The men were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 after months of surveillance involving Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch and MI5.

They are now in custody at Paddington Green high security police station.

Security sources said the investigation was focusing on the alleged recruitment and radicalisation of young British Muslims and the facilitation of training for terrorism purposes.

It is not yet clear whether the men were part of one group, or disparate groups who knew each other.

Police have only just started the searches and have not ruled out the possibility that the investigation may take them elsewhere once their inquiries are complete.

A spokesman for Home Secretary John Reid said he had been "kept fully informed of the developments about the counter-terror operation".

Peter Clarke, head of the Ant-Terrorist Branch, said this weekend that police were trying to keep tabs on "thousands" of people directly or indirectly involved in terrorism in the UK.

About 70 counter terrorism investigations are currently ongoing.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Officers from the Metropolitan Police's Anti-Terrorist Branch have arrested 14 men under the Terrorism Act 2000 in a pre-planned, intelligence-led operation.

"The arrests in south and east London follow many months of surveillance and investigation in a joint operation involving the Anti-Terrorist Branch, Special Branch and the Security Service."

Update:Captain Ed has some interesting information about the Islamic school involved in the investigation:

The school only had nine students at its last inspection, which seems very noteworthy considering the size of the facility. The school advertises to Islamic centers as a central instruction point for leaders of Muslim communities. Given the size of the facility, either Jameah Islameah has fallen on hard times -- which seems unlikely given the current state of affairs -- or it served as something more than an instructional facility

In fact, the BBC's sources say that the arrests involved the operation of training camps for terrorists. It's the same kind of training that British investigators suspected the July 7 bombers of undergoing but were never able to establish when or where it happened. While investigators so far have found no connection between the school and the July 7 plotters, they apparently have taken that theory seriously enough to look for similar training centers for would-be terrorists.

I tried trackbacking you a couple times, but unfortunely it would not work...sorry. http://suzieviews.blogspot.com/2006/09/british-police-bust-14-more-terror.html
**UPDATE** Since posting early this a.m. as I read through World Breaking News the number of suspects have changed from 14 to 16 now. Reuters is reporting: UK police arrest 16 in anti-terrorism raids
This is a new batch of terror suspects not connected to the alleged transatlantic jet bomb plot or the 7 July attacks.

Captain Ed also questioned why they would arrest them at a restaurant. (Captain Ed requires registration or I would've put this there).

Apparently, the British authorities learned the lesson the BATF should've learned at Waco. If you think a compound could be an armed one, try and nab the leaders while they're outside (Koresh used to run every day at the same time. BATF should've served the arrest (not search) warrant while he was off-compound, instead of trying to play DEVGRU), THEN search the area.